Piano Lessons
by Mystique Astist
Summary: Hunter decides to get a summer job and when Blaine tells him that his old friend Sebastian at Dalton is looking for a piano teacher, he jumps at the offer. What he doesn't know is that he's probably going to get more than he bargained for. Rated for language. McKinley!bi!Hunter.


**A/N: The idea of this story just came to me one day, when I was practising playing the piano and I just had to write it out. If there are any grammatical mistakes or some sentence patterns seem a bit 'odd' to you, please forgive me as English is not my first language.**

**I don't own the characters or Glee. Also Hunter goes to McKinley in this story and he's bi for storyline purposes.**

* * *

The hallways of McKinley High were filled with students. It was the last day of school and everyone was looking forward to the summer vacation. Most students were hanging in the hallways, discussing what to do during the holiday with their friends or packing their things. The amount of students in the corridors had made it rather difficult for Hunter Clarington to get to his locker. He had to push people away and slipped between them. "Excuse me," he said, tapping a guy's shoulder to let him know that he had to get pass him. He had lost count of how many times he'd said it for the past five minutes. Eventually he got to his locker and Hunter couldn't help congratulating himself. He opened the door and began stuffing books into his backpack.

"We're going to France this year." a girl nearby said. "I'm sure it'll be fun-and there will probably be tons of hot guys as well." He rolled his eyes at this statement. People nowadays. Always thinking about hooking up and going out with their girlfriends and boyfriends. Didn't they have other things to do or talk about? Maybe this was because of his going to military school two years ago, where everyone was taught to keep their eyes on the prize and business instead of focusing on pointless things, which included dating. In Hunter's opinion.

What the girl had just said also led him to think about his plans for summer. Hunter had decided to try to find a job just to make summer more bearable. His parents had also been going on about him finding job, thinking it'd be 'an important step into adulthood'. But just what kind of job should he get? Hunter ran his hand through his hair, which had grown longer since his days back in military school. He wondered if his military background would make it easier for him to find one.

"Hunter!" a voice cried out behind him. Blaine. He'd know his voice everywhere. Both of them were good friends and members of the school's Glee Club, New Directions. The kids in the club were talented but sadly they couldn't win Sectionals this year. Hunter turned around, only to find Blaine in his usual bowtie-and-suspenders attire, standing right behind him. His messenger bag was hanging by his side and there was a smile on his face, as usual. "Got any plans for summer?"

"I'm thinking of getting a job. My parents have been on my ass about it for the past few months." He inwardly groaned as his parents' words came into his mind again. _Hunter, you are almost an adult and you have to learn how to be responsible-_

"You play the piano, right?" This threw Hunter off. He was surprised at Blaine's words. Why was he asking about this?

"Of course. Don't you remember that time when the Piano Man was sick and I had to help play it when you all sang your solos?" For some reason Hunter kept forgetting the name of the pianist who usually played the piano during the solos.

Blaine laughed. "I heard that you passed your Grade 8 ABRSM exam."

"I did. I'm thinking of taking ATCL in the future." Hunter just got his letter several weeks ago and had been told that he'd passed Grade 8 with distinction-137 out of 150. This was a rather high score, especially for higher grades, but Hunter believed that if he hadn't been so nervous, he could have gotten an even higher mark. He always had high standards for himself, an impact of growing up in a military family.

"You see, my old friend in Dalton is looking for a piano teacher." Blaine used to go to Dalton with Kurt but he transferred to McKinley when Kurt came back here. Hunter only met them this year, after his parents decided that he should go to a public school instead of staying in Military School. He still didn't know why his parents would make such a decision, but, well, it wasn't so bad here. The jocks didn't dare to mess with him or other New Direction members as they were afraid that Hunter would lash out all the tricks he's learnt at his old school if they did. "He didn't like the one his parents' hired for him, so he asked me to see if anyone was interested. I've asked others but most all them have a busy timetable and just can't make it. So I want to see if you're up for it."

"Why don't you teach him yourself?" Hunter knew that Blaine was a pretty good pianist himself as well and everyone loved his performance where he would play the piano and sing along-most of the songs were for, or about Kurt, of course.

"I've got other things to do."_ Like going out with Kurt_, Hunter silently added in his mind. "Sebastian comes from a rather affluent family, so the pay is pretty good."

"How much?"

"75 dollars per lesson." Wow, that was quite a lot indeed. "Bear in mind that he's not easy to handle."

"When?"

"Every Tuesday and Saturday, half past five to half past six in the afternoon. He's still a beginner and doesn't know much."

Hunter said nothing as he mulled things over. Sebastian was Blaine's friend so that meant he was around Hunter's age, but that might be rather tricky. Blaine had told him several stories about Sebastian, mostly about how Sebastian loved to sleep around with other guys and seduce people. Hunter himself had nothing against gay people-in fact, he was bi and he'd only realized that after walking in one of Blaine's and Kurt's make-out sessions. Back in military school he was 'not even remotely bi-curious', like most of the guys there. But now he didn't really care. His parents knew about this and they didn't give a damn, much to his surprise. The pay was quite good and maybe he could finally get his parents off his back. As for Sebastian's love for seducing… count this as a challenge then. _Claringtons never back down from challenges and difficulties._

He'd made up his mind. "I'm in." he told Blaine firmly.

"OK then. The first lesson would be this Saturday. I'll give you his address."

* * *

"So have you found a job then?" Hunter stopped cutting his streak when his mother asked him that. For the past several weeks dinner always began with this question and Hunter was beginning to get annoyed. However, he'd got an answer for it this time.

"A friend of my friend wanted a piano teacher and I took that post."

His mother stopped eating, her fork raised to her mouth. "Good." She eventually said, "At least you won't be so bored this summer."

"And the piano classes you've been taking finally pay off." His father added. Hunter knew that his father was not happy when his mother signed him up for piano classes. He thought it was a waste of time and money and Hunter 'could be doing something far more productive instead of spending an hour a day practicing playing scales'. "Who will you be teaching?"

"Sebastian Smythe."

"Really?" Hunter's mother laughed. "I know Mrs. Smythe. Lovely lady and Sebastian is a true gentleman. Well mannered and straight-A student."_ And he enjoys fucking other guys._ Hunter added in his mind.

Suddenly, the idea of teaching Smythe wasn't as good as it seemed to be anymore.

* * *

On Saturday, Hunter found himself preparing for his first piano lesson-as a teacher. Blaine had said that Sebastian was still a beginner so Hunter tried to gather as many Grade 1 and preparatory books as possible. Luckily he hadn't thrown away the piano books he'd used when he was a little kid, so that was okay. He'd also found his old music notebook and sheet music he'd been collecting since he was five. There were songs ranging from Mozart's Turkish March to Wonderwall by Oasis and all of them were his favorites. He hoped that Sebastian would like them too.

Okay, all the teaching materials had been prepared. Now for his outfit. Hunter didn't want to look too shabby, especially when Sebastian came from an extremely wealthy family. But he couldn't try too hard, or not everything would backfire and kick his ass. After searching his closet for about half an hour, he decided to wear his favorite long sleeved button down and khakis. His old red Acupuntures completed his outfit. Hunter checked his backpack once more, making sure that he'd got everything he needed and went out to his living room, grabbing his keys. His parents were out and he didn't need to leave them a note-they already knew where he would be going. Hunter scratched the back of Mr. Puss' ears and the cat purred. "Wish me luck." He murmured to the cat. Mr. Puss meowed in response. With that, Hunter left his home and set off for the Smythe's residence.

Blaine had given him Sebastian's address and it didn't take Hunter too long to find the house. When he arrived, he was shocked by the appearance of the Smythe's house. It was huge and two, no, three times bigger that Hunter's house. The house was white with gigantic windows on the sides, looking classy yet modern at the same time. The roof was painted black, so was the front door. It was rather intimidating, but in military school Hunter was taught that he had to keep his head held high even if he was scared. Looking weak was strongly frowned upon and it also gave your enemies a chance to attack you. Hunter took a deep breath and walked over to the front door. He pressed the bell and waited for someone to answer the door.

A young maid came out and greeted him, leading him into the house. There was a huge staircase and the floor was made of obviously expensive marble. Paintings and vases were used to decorate the walls. The maid led Hunter to a door. "This, sir," she said, gesturing at the door, "Is the music room." She pushed the door open and Hunter found himself in a gigantic room, with a grand piano in the middle of it. Like the lobby, there were paintings on the walls. Hunter walked over to the piano and inspected it. The strings were finely made, and the pedals were polished. Hunter didn't dare to think how much it cost. He had a grand piano at home but it was second-handed as his parents couldn't afford a new one.

"Would you like something to drink, sir?" Hunter turned around and was surprised to see that the maid was pushing a trolley towards him. The trolley was filled with various kinds of drinks, even wine and beer. And all of them looked expensive. "Water would be fine." He hastily replied. The maid nodded and handed him a glass of water.

"Young Mister Smythe will be here soon." she said. "He had some work to do before you arrived." Hunter was not sure if he wanted to know what 'work' Smythe needed to do, so he didn't ask about it. However, there was another question in his mind. "What do you think of him?" he asked the maid.

The maid remained silent and he thought that she didn't want to answer. But ultimately she spoke, in a low voice, "I'm not allowed to say this," she said, "But Mr. Sebastian is the definition of the word 'whore'." She smiled. "I have lost count of times when I'd walked in on him with another man in his bed. Or sneaking out at night. However he is nice to us servants so we don't tell Mr. and Mrs. Smythe about that." The maid looked down at her watch and let out a small gasp. "Oh, it's late and I must go, sir. I'm sorry. " Then for a second, Hunter thought she actually _smirked_. "Though Mr. Sebastian is a nice young man, I wouldn't stay with him in a room for too long, if I were a man and I had a face like yours, sir." Hunter didn't know whether he should feel flattered because of her complimenting his looks or irritated by the true meaning of her words. "Now, if you'd excuse me." She nodded at Hunter and left the room, taking the trolley away with her.

Now Hunter was left alone in the room. He glanced at the antique clock on the wall and it read quarter to six. There was still of sign of Smythe and maybe he could pass the time waiting for him by playing the piano for a while. His hands had been itching to try it out ever since it came into his sight. It was settled then. Hunter pulled out the piano bench and sat on it, dropping his backpack onto the floor carelessly. He decided to play scales first to warm up his fingers. He placed his hands on the keyboard and began to play. The sound was clear and not out of tune, but the keys were hard and he had to use more force than usual. However it was not uncommon. Brand new pianos were always like that.

After playing several scales, Hunter ran through his mental music catalogue. What song should he play? Well, maybe an easier piece, Fur Elise by Beethoven. Most people thought that it was difficult to play as it had a rich texture. Well, it wasn't, but it was difficult to play _well_. Fur Elise was a Grade 3 piece and the rich texture was in fact created by the sustain pedal. However, playing it well and expressing the emotions was another matter. It took Hunter some time to figure that out. As it was one of his favorite pieces, he'd already memorized all the notes. His hands ran over the keys, applying more force when it was necessary and pressing the keys more slowly when he wanted to create a lighter tone. Hunter let himself get drowned in the music, in the rhythm and the sound. Before he knew it, the song came to an end. He felt a bit giddy, as he always did whenever he focused a bit too much on the song. He let out a deep breath that he didn't know he had been holding and released the pedal, effectively stopping the music.

_Clap. Clap. Clap._

Hunter looked up and saw someone leaning against the doorframe. That guy was good-looking, with bright green eyes and dark brown hair. His jawline was well-defined and he shifted, drawing Hunter's eyes to his mile-long legs. He was as tall as Hunter, maybe one or two inch taller. "That was amazing." He said, his voice was neither too high nor too low, the perfect pitch in Hunter's opinion. "I got here several minutes ago but I wanted to hear you play, so I didn't come over to you." He walked over to Hunter. "Sebastian Smythe." He said, holding out his hand to him.

"Hunter Clarington." Sebastian's grip was firm. Confident, maybe even arrogant. These words ran through Hunter's mind as he looked into Sebastian's eyes, which were twinkling like rare emeralds.

"So, Clarington," Sebastian said and Hunter stood up, letting him sit down on the bench. "What are we going to do now? We've got half an hour left." Hunter looked at the clock and realized that he was right. Well, he would try to teach as much as possible. "How much do you know?" he asked the boy next to him.

Sebastian shook his head. "Only a little bit. The last teacher I had spent an hour correcting my posture, saying that you have to sit up straight-" he sat up straighter. "Your forearms and upper arms should produce a right angle and you should play with your finger tips instead of the pads of your fingers."

"Correct." Hunter said. "What about the notes on the piano?"

"Middle C." Sebastian said, his thumb on the Middle C. "D, E, F, G, A, B, and C again." Each time he said a letter, he pressed down the corresponding key and he got all the notes right. "The black keys were flats and sharps, right?"

"Yes. What about reading sheet music?" Sebastian gave him a blank look; obviously he knew nothing about that. "Reading music that is." Hunter declared, taking out his old music notebook from his backpack.

Sebastian scoffed. "Come on, it's boring! Besides I thought there were people who could play songs simply by listening to them and they didn't need sheet music."

"That's because they have absolute pitch, something that not everyone has." Hunter turned to the first page of the notebook and put it on the piano, right above the keyboard. "And believe me, it isn't as boring as it seems to be."

They began with the basic stuff-the staff, the positions of the notes on the staff, and the key. Sebastian was a quick learner and Hunter could see that he had potential, but still he was determined to get Sebastian go through everything. Sebastian wasn't happy about this. He kept complaining how Hunter was underestimating his musical abilities but Hunter ignored his words. _You could never go far without learning all the basic things first. _His father's words appeared in his mind and Hunter had always followed them. So far they had been pretty useful.

Sebastian wasn't a bad guy, if you were able to tolerate his snide comments and jokes. He once made a lewd comment about the shape of the notes and despite his best efforts to be solemn, Hunter found himself laughing.

"You know," Sebastian said, his fingers running through the keys. "I don't want to learn all those classical songs. There are some pretty amazing ones, but piano isn't about playing classical music only, is it? I prefer modern music." He was practicing playing the C major scale. "Shit." He cursed when his fingers messed up again. "And I hate scales." Sebastian added.

"Really?" Hunter wasn't surprised to hear that. Sometimes it could get rather boring if all you played were sonatinens and Bach's compositions. Speaking of which, he hated Bach's songs when he was a little kid as his piano teacher at that time made him play them over and over again until she was satisfied with his playing. But now he stopped attending piano lessons after he'd taken his Grade 8 exam and self-studied instead so he could basically play whatever he wanted. Not Bach of course.

"I've collected some piano sheets. Maybe we'll go through them next time?"

"Good idea, but you'll have to learn all the keys and rhythm patterns first." Sebastian groaned._ But, really, how could you play a song when you don't even know its key or its timing?_

Hunter continued teaching Sebastian the fundamentals of scales and timing for the rest of the evening. Before he knew it, it was already quarter to seven. "Ah, I've got to go. My parents are holding a meeting at seven-thirty and they want to me come. I have to go get ready." He reached his hand into his trousers' pocket and pulled out a small envelope. "Here's your pay and Sophia there will show you the way out." Hunter looked up only to find the maid who led him in before standing by the door. "I'm going now. See you next Tuesday." With that Sebastian got up and left the room.

Hunter checked the amount in the envelope before putting it and his books back into his backpack. He walked over to the maid and she - Sophia - nodded at him. "Allow me to ask one question, sir?" she said.

Hunter shook his head. "Go ahead."

"How was the lesson?"

"He was okay. Sebastian does have talent. A real quick learner. He's learnt all the basic stuff. And he doesn't seem to be a bad guy."

"That's all?" Sophia asked, incredulous, "Nothing else?" She realized what she had just said and blushed. "I'm sorry for my outburst, sir. I hope I didn't offend you."

"No, that's okay." But of course it wasn't. "What did you mean by 'nothing else'?"

The maid didn't say anything. It seemed that she was considering whether she should tell the truth or not, yet she still gave Hunter an answer. "If I remember correctly, you should be the sixteenth teacher Mr. Sebastian has."

"Wait, I'm the sixteenth person to teach him piano?" Hunter could not believe his ears. He began taking piano lessons ever since he was four and he was almost eighteen now, but he didn't have as many teachers as Sebastian did. Seven at most.

The maid nodded. "His past teachers include old ladies and men, sir. I think all of them only gave Mr. Sebastian one lesson before getting fired. For some reason Mr. Sebastian gets bored easily. And if the teacher was a young man like you, sir, I doubt if young Mr. Smythe would be able to learn anything. Sometimes when I walked past I heard them…doing something else." Hunter didn't want to know what they were actually doing, so he didn't ask about it.

They didn't talk for the rest of the walk and pretty soon Hunter found himself standing in front of the main door. Sophia opened it and Hunter walked out. "Goodbye, sir," she smiled. _Not a fake one either_, Hunter noted. "I hope to see you again next Tuesday. If you don't get any texts or calls stating that you're fired, then you're still in."

"Bye." Hunter nodded at her before leaving. The lesson wasn't bad, to be honest. But if what Sophia just told him was true, then he would need to be more careful.

* * *

**A/N: What do you think? Should I continue? I may write another chapter if people are up for it, but now I'm going leave it for a while as exams are coming and I may not have much time to continue writing. If you have any suggestions or there's something you want to talk about, leave me a review.**

**Thanks for reading!**


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